The Press. TUESDAY, MAY 26, 1914. Health in Schools.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14977, 26 May 1914, Page 6

The Press. TUESDAY, MAY 26, 1914. Health in Schools.

The report presented to tne "Wellington Education Board by the Medical In->-pector (I>r. Elizabeth Gtinn) affords material for serious consideration on the part of all who aro interested in tho welfare of tho rising generation of New ? Zealanders. Ont of 478 eehool children examined by Dr. Gtinn In tho ordinary <»nrso of her work—apart, that is, from "specials," or children selected by the , teachers because they wore supposed to have something the matter with them— only 128 wero found to have no defects. The number of children found to havo >~ defect* other than dental was no loss than 235. In Other words, nearly oaehalf of tho children examined, after the "specials" had been culled, were found to bo suffering under somo defect of health or physique. About tho same ■-- proportion of children were found with defective teeth, so that not a few of tho j children who were suffering from ill-! health had defective teeth also, and it | is qnito safe to infer that in a large proportion of cases the ill-health was due to the bad teeth. The most as- . tounding feature in tho report is that no fewer than 131 of the children, or more than one-third of tho whole, showed evidence of malnutrition. Xo one will .'■ suppose that in a country liko New Zealand, ill© workers .arc so well off, and where thero is a liberal system of charitable aid for tho destitute, more than an infinitesimal fraction of theso cases are due to actual want of food in the homes. It is possible, as was suggested by the chairman —an ex-inspector ' of schools of loDg experience—that tho children themselves aro in many cases to blame. Hβ said —"They Miatchod a ** hasty breakfast, and took 2. Jittlo ■"lunch which was generally eaten "'long before the appointed time. -£ *' In country schools it was prqbable

"that some children went without food "from 10.30 a.m. to G p.m."' Admitting all this, we venture to say that ono chief cause for the appalling fact disclosed hy Dr. Gunn is ignorance on the part of the parents—ignorance as to food values, as to the preparation of food, and ignorance as to the manner in which food should be taken. Doubtless defective teeth, and unhygienic conditions of life olso played a prominent part in giving these children their illnourished appearance

It is possible that the schools examined by Dr. Gunn —which were mainly 'Wellington country schools—show a worse result than tho average, but there is only too much, reason to fear that tho result* of medical inspection throughout the .schools of Now Zealand ■ire far from satisfactory when tho favourable conditions of life in tho Dominion are considered. Evidently the system of physical training has not been sol on foot by the Government one day too soon. From thi.<- system wo anticipate the beneficial efforts will follow. We notice that out of the 233 chiMren found by Dr. Gimn to lw defective, 131 were suffering from obstruction in breathing, 9] from stooped shoulder*, 7 from curvature, 42 from flat chest, and 3 from pigeon breast. Lnder the sjstem of breathing exercises and modified Swedish drill introduced by .Mr JRoyd Gα: lick, these defects ftbould disappear almost with magical rapidity. The system is also valuable because, incidentally, lessons in personal hygiene will be learned both by the teachers and children. One or two members of the Wellington Education Board suggested that the medical inspectors should drw up hints to parents as to the kiud of food most suitable to tho children, and it was derided to make representations to tho Government to that effect. It would be a good thing, we think, if somo plain, and sianple articles on dietetics and personal hygieno were printed in the ''School Journal. , ' That excellent "pub- \ lieation. as Earl Grey recently pointed out. is taken home by the children and often read by their parents, who, it is evident, require educative on theso points even more than the children. Quo of tho most disheartening features of Br. Gunn's report is the fact that tho inspector found that in many cases whoro defects had boon pointed out hist year, nothing had been done- for tho children affected. At Masterton, for instance, tho results wcro especially rlisapnointiug, as not 30 per cent, of tho children last year had been attended to. Ono hesitates to extend tho principle of compulsion too far, but that parents aro punished if they do not send their children to school, it is certainly open to argument that they should bo punished if .tber ■wilfully negJoct to secure Tnedical treatment for their children -when its need has been pointed out to them. There is no valid reason for such neglect, seeing that tho out-patients' departments of tho" public hos.pilals aro open to thoso who aro too poor to pay for medical advice, in the ordinary way.. Doubtless tho Government nvill profer to try tho effect of moral influence a little longer, biti if paronts persist in ■w'ilfullv neglecting the health of their children, tho State, which Is providing medical inspection, ■will certainly bo justified in punisliing thoso -who refuse even to avail themselves of the medical treatment provided by tho State.